Riley
2025 SSA
About Riley
Riley—an upbeat, friendly surname name—is red hot for girls and still going strong for boys. If you haven't been spending much time around babies recently, you may be surprised to learn that Riley is the most popular girls' name starting with R and also the Number 1 Irish name for girls in the US.
Riley originated as both an English and an Irish surname. The former was derived from British place names that got their names from the Old English words for "rye clearing." Irish Riley is a variation of Reilly, a surname taken from the given name Raghailleach.
Rylee, Ryleigh, and other variations are also quite popular, along with the traditional Reilly. Riley is one of the most popular contemporary unisex baby names, ALWAYS ranking in the Top 1000 for boys but now more popular for girls.
Newsperson Norah O'Donnell has a daughter named Riley Norah.
Pronounced RY-lee.
As of October 2026, Riley ranked #48 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #22 in 2016, Nameberry popularity #62.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #47 | 4,798 | 2,685.9 |
| 2015 | #35 | 5,738 | 3,214.4 |
| 2016 | #22 | 7,159 | 4,040 |
| 2017 | #25 | 6,366 | 3,687.3 |
| 2018 | #28 | 6,009 | 3,532.5 |
| 2019 | #30 | 5,710 | 3,402.1 |
| 2020 | #33 | 5,338 | 3,302.1 |
| 2021 | #37 | 5,219 | 3,180.6 |
| 2022 | #39 | 4,906 | 2,991.2 |
| 2023 | #43 | 4,637 | 2,889.8 |
| 2024 | #42 | 4,644 | 2,866.3 |
| 2025 | #48 | 4,441 | 2,763.1 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Riley.
- Peyton
- Avery
- Addison
- Blake
- Harper
- Kennedy
- Everly
- Everleigh
- Brooklyn
- Zoey
- Paisley
- Charlie
- Reagan
- Sienna
- Lyla
- Skylar
- Parker
- Bailey
- Hayden
- Kendall
Riley on lists
Famous Rileys
- (Danielle) Riley Keough
American actress/model, daughter of Lisa Marie Presley; granddaughter of Elvis Presley
- Riley Elizabeth Weston
American actress
- Riley Reid
American adult film actress
- Riley DeLuise (b. 1993)
daughter of actor David DeLuise; granddaughter of actor Dom DeLuise
- Riley Shannon McCusker (b. 2001)
American gymnast
- Riley Burruss (b. 2002)
daughter of reality TV personality Kandi Burruss of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta"
- Riley Claire Bryggman (b. 2003)
daughter of actor Larry Bryggman
- Riley Rose Campbell (b. 2004)
daughter of actors Alan Campbell and Lauren Kennedy
- Coco Riley Arquette (b. 2004)
daughter of actors Courteney Cox and David Arquette
- Riley Collins (b. 2005)
daughter of NFL player Kerry Collins
- Riley Dylan Sullivan (b. 2007)
daughter of baseball player Cory Sullivan
- Riley Norah Tracy (b. 2008)
daughter of TV journalist Norah O'Donnell and chef Geoff Tracy
- Hania Riley Sinclair (b. 2008)
daughter of actor Vin Diesel and model Paloma Jimenez
- Riley Maddox Blais (b. 2008)
daughter of Richard Blais of "Top Chef"
- Riley Elizabeth Dempster (b. 2009)
daughter of baseball player Ryan Dempster
- Riley Barber (b. 2010)
daughter of NFL player Tiki Barber; twin of Ella Barber
- Riley Elizabeth Curry (b. 2012)
daughter of basketball player Stephen Curry
- Riley Grace Vilasuso (b. 2012)
daughter of actor Jordi Vilasuso
- Riley Anne Mesnick (b. 2013)
daughter of reality TV personalities Jason and Molly Mesnick of "The Bachelor/ette"
- Riley Paige Busby (b.2015)
one of the Busby Quints on TV's "Outdaughtered"
Riley in pop culture
- Riley
character in "Moving in"
- Riley
British motor car
- Riley Daring
main character on TV's "The Replacements"
- Riley Lawrence
character in film "Winning London"
- Riley Carlson
character on TV's "So Little Time"
- Riley Parks
main character on TV's "The Client List"
- Riley Matthews
daughter of Cory and Topanga Matthews on "Girl Meets World"
- Riley Perrin
character on TV's "Baby Daddy"
- Riley Blue
character on the Netflix show "Sense8"
- Riley Andersen
character in Disney Pixar's "Inside Out"
- Riley Grandy
Gwen's daughter on TV's "The Mindy Project"
- Riley Marra
a character on MTV's "Scream"
- Riley
character on TV's 'The Next Step'
- Riley Davis
character on TV's "MacGyver"